


Under the Cover of Darkness

by Heyitsmehyuppers



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-05-10
Packaged: 2018-01-24 04:43:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1592081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heyitsmehyuppers/pseuds/Heyitsmehyuppers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Khan wakes up and sets out to find vengeance for his family. He soon discovers that he has a blood bond with Kirk and that if she dies so does he. Soon a new problem arises and Kirk and Khan are forced to work together. Can they trust each other? Will they develop feeling for each other? Find out by reading Under the Cover of Darkness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Khan slept deeply, then a little lighter, then a little closer to waking up until twelve hours later his eyes were half-way open. He could see.

_He was sitting in the Captain's chair. Mr._ _Sulu_ _turned around and smiled brightly. "We're ready when you say go, Captain."_

_McCoy_ _was checking his vitals for some reason, "Really, Joan? Five_  years? Five whole years _? I hate you sometimes."_ _McCoy_ _walked off the_ _bridge_ _muttering and shaking his head._

_"Punch it, Mr._ _Sulu_ _." Kirk's voice rang out._

"Oh, I see now." Khan smiled as his eyes opened. Vengeance would be all to easy now. . .

 

 

I grinned as I looked at Spock. He was always so stoic. He stood at his station with his brows furrowed going over the information he had been sent.

I bit into the apple I had been hiding in my pocket. Five years, the chance of a lifetime. The crew and I were boldly going where no man has gone before.

I took another bite mulling over the thought. We would be heroes when we finally returned. My mother was already proud of me, so I had no one else left to impress.

I grinned. Who was I kidding? I had the world to impress. I took another bite.

"Captain, is it not a little inappopriate to be eating an apple at this moment?" I sighed and turned to look at Spock. Couldn't he just leave me alone?

The Starfleet captain that I was, met his eyes. I brought the apple to my lips slowly took a bite, chewed, then swallowed. The entire crew on the bridge held their breaths. I gave him my biggest smile before turning back to face the screen. My chest puffed a bit when I heard chuckles from crew.

I was fighting the urge to check the look on Spock's face when a ear splitting headache claimed me. The apple fell to the ground when my hands flew to my head. I fell to my knees grasping my head letting out cries of pain. 

It was blinding, I had never felt a headache like this before.

"Captain!" Spock ran to my side. His hands grasped my waist and led me towards the medbay. I didn't make it off the bridge before darkness clouded my vision.

\-------------------

I opened my eyes to blackness. It wasn't dark. It was just black. I could see my hands and my clothing perfectly.

My eyes wandered around. It took a few seconds to realize that I was standing.

"Welcome to my hell."

My eyes located Khan within a heartbeat. My pulse quickened. I was terrified. He could kill me within seconds. As a matter of fact, he had. Even if I told people otherwise, I could remember dying and it was the most terrifying thing I'd ever gone through. Every night I relived that pain in my nightmares.

He stood tall leaning on- leaning on nothing. My brow furrowed trying to locate the wall he was leaning on, unable to process this "world." He was wearing the same black clothes he had been wearing in the brig. His pale eyes focused on me.

"This is where I remain when I'm in cryosleep." He walked toward me and I automatically tensed. He circled me like I was his prey.

"How am I here?" My eyes followed his every move.

He took two steps. His face was inches from me. "I" I stumbled backwards in fear.

"Am" I tripped on the nothingness and began to fall slowly.

"Awake." Khan's face loomed over me as a fell for what seemed like eternity.

\----------

My body slammed into the floor. "Captain!" McCoy was instantly at my side. He gently lifted me back onto the bed. He stuck one of the shot things onto my neck.

"OW! Haven't I told you to knock that off? You should at least warn me!" I shot him a nasty look. I froze, remembering the place from my dreams. I was out the medbay door before McCoy could even think about replying.

I stormed onto the bridge. "We have to turn back!"

"Captain!" Spock stood up and walked over. "Should you be running around so soon after you collasped?"

I rubbed my head. If somebody shouted captain one more time I would punch something, or someone. "Khan is awake! We have to return and help!"

Spock opened his mouth to contradict me. "No, listen to me! He has escaped!"

"Captain, the odds of him awaking from his cyrosleep are ninety-nine point-"

"Captain we have received a transmission from starfleet." Uhora turned her face pale, her facial expressions covered in shock. "Khan has escaped and has stolen a ship. We are to go after him before resuming our mission."

I closed my eyes. I really would have rather been crazy, than have that news delivered

I walked to the chair and slowly melted in. "Where?"

"Delta Vega."

I wanted to slam my head into something really hard. There again. It was the planet Spock had abandoned me on.

I reached down and pressed a button for ship-wide intercom. "This is the captain speaking." I sighed rubbing my eyes before continuing. "Khan has escaped and we have been ordered to go after him immediately, postponing our mission. We will arrive at Delta Vega in three hours. Kirk out."

_____________

Khan walked through the snow gracefully until he came upon a cave. He could see where somebody had once slept and where the remnants of a fire were located. He sat down in the shadows and waited.

The cold had no affect whatsoever. In fact it helped. It sharpened his mind. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He could hear her. He concentrated harder.

_"Captain, I still think that you shouldn't be here. You passed out not even an hour ago."_

_He felt himself whirl. "Prepare a landing party._ _Sulu_ _and_ _Spock_ _get ready. I want at least two more security officers with us. Preferably a whole team."_

_Spock's_ _face was frozen, "Yes captain."_

Khan opened his eyes. This would be to easy. He could easily over power them. Spock might be a little harder to fight then the rest, but he would enjoy ripping the flesh from Spock's body. Spock murdered his family without a second thought and he would pay, as would all of them. He'd make Kirk, who loved her crew so much, watch as her entire crew was slaughtered. He relished the thought.

Of course the all that would have to wait a while.

_______

I groaned as the cold seeped into my fingers.The landing party trudged slowly through the snow. All of them grim.

I was hugely relying on Spock to win this battle, but I got the feeling that the circumstance didn't quite match the last time Spock and Khan faced off. As I understood it, Spock's adrenaline had been pumping and his motives were fueled by my death. I really hoped that I wouldn't have to die again in order to win this battle.

I could see the cave that I and future Spock had sat in when he informed me about his future and his past. It hadn't been the best day of my life, it had been very confusing. Marooned by Spock only to be saved by Spock. It was really ironic. And now I was back here with Spock to capture a fugitive that would most likely kill us all. 

As they got closer to the cave it hit me that Khan already had the advantage. He was hidden somewhere in the cave, and had probably mermorized its nooks and cranies. I gritted my teeth. This was going to be a fight to remeber, if we survived.

The party paused outside the cave. Spock moved in first, followed by the red-shirts we had brought along. Sulu walked beside me as our gazes swept the cave looking for signs of Khan.

My heart beat quickly. I could hear all of everyone breathing, but I heard nothing else. It was very unsettling.

Khan barreled into the middle of the group, he grabbed one of the security officers and swung him into the wall. The sounds of bones cracking echoed through the cave. Fasers started going off lighting the cave up.

Khan grabbed the other security officer and threw him into Sulu. They both rolled to just outside the entrance. Khan kicked Spock, and Spock scittered backward.

I threw a puch and shot with my other hand. I was quite proud when my punch actually hit its mark. Khan automatically swept my legs out from under me causing me to hit my back hard.

 Spock jumped back up and fists collided. Khan aimed a punch at Spocks head but Spock saw it coming and stepped to the side. He lifted his leg jaming it into Khans stomache. Khan punched Spock twice on both side of his stomache causing Spock to keel over for a second.

I, ever the hero, sat up and grabbed my faser from where it lay behind Khan a few feet away. I fired twice hitting my mark both times in the back of the head. Khan shrugged it off.

He wheeled around kicking the faser out of my hands before planting his foot onto my chest and sent me flying into the wall, dislocationg my shoulder in  the process.

Spock picked up his faser and fired. Khan paused for a second before attempting to move again. Spock fired twice more and Sulu barreled into Khans back. They both rolled.

Khan panted then looked up at Spock. "I surrender."

I stood up, hissing in pain. Probably a broken rib. "I accept your surreneder." I nodded at Spock who fired his faser twice more rendering Khan unconcious.


	2. Interrogations

I crossed my legs as I stared at the screen. More like glared. I stood up, then hissed in pain. Spock looked at me and opened his mouth once but closed it once I shot him my nastiest of faces. My shoulder was incredibly sore. I could have sworn that Bones had snapped my shoulder back in place that hard on purpose.  
  
I walked away from the bridge without having any destination in mind. People had been pressuring me to take a break any way. Maybe I would take a nap. I melted at the thought. A nap! The last time I had taken one, must have been when I was still at the Academy.  
  
I turned a corner without thinking then froze when I realized where I was.  
  
The white walls of the brig looked harsh against the black clothes he had on. Khan stood in the middle of his cell arms behind his back, legs spread shoulder-width apart. He looked at me calmly.   
  
"Captain. How nice of you to finally join me."

I turned on my heels and walked back the way I came.  _Nope._  I was not going to talk with him until I had Spock to keep me from shouting.  
  
 _Captain._  
  
I paused midstep. Turning to face him again, was hard, but I met his eyes. I hated how smug he looked. The urge to punch something was coming on strong as he smiled at me.  _Don't let him bait you._

Looking at him now in the brig with that smug smile, probably already plotting my death,  _again_ , reminded me of the first time I had talked to him, " _Oh, Captain. Are you going to punch me over and over until you arm weakens again? Clearly you want to, so tell me. Why did you allow me to live?"_

But how was he in my head? Was it just my imagination?

I turned swiftly on my heel and walked away, fists clenched.

I made my way to medbay a quickly as I could. "Bones! I need you to scan my brain for- for something!"

McCoy looked up from his desk, and raised his eyebrows. "Is this about your psychic migraine from the other day?" I gave him a stiff nod.

He grabbed a medical tool thing and walked over. I sat on a table for a good fifthteen minutes with Bones circling me using different medical devices before he finally spoke. "The only thing I could find was that your brain seems to functioning  _too_  well. Better than your average human."

I rubbed my temple. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know. Your brainwaves have similar features as Khan's, I'm going to run some blood work. Maybe, this is happening because of the blood we put in your veins." He jabbed a needle into my arm. I hissed in pain but sat still. 

McCoy gave me a long look, freaked out by my compliance to his testing. "I'm worried." I whispered looking up at him. He was probably my oldest friend on the ship. "He's in my head, and as much as I hate to admit it, its scaring me." He looked up from where he was putting the blood sample on his desk.

"We'll figure a way to get him out." My com device bleeped at me interrupting McCoy before he could say anything else reassuring.

"Captain, Khan has requested a meeting." Spock's voice came out as calm as ever.

I sighed, then tapped my intercom, "On my way there."

\-----

Spock was already talking when I arrived.

"How did you awaken yourself from the cyrosleep." I was a little peeved that that he started without me, but Spock was Spock. Probably doing what he thought was best.

"Ahh, Captain! Have you finally decided that I am worth talking to?" HIs voice was a suave as always and his smug smile grew bigger.

"You will never be worth talking to." I answered barely keeping the anger out of my voice. "Why don't you answer Spock's question?"

"Oh, Captain. You're brain must be on overdrive right about now. I think that you know the answer and you've known it since you confirmed that I, was in fact, awake." He took two steps backwards and turned away. "Captain, perhaps you would like to share the information you have gathered with Spock so he doesn't feel as left out as he did when he  was a child."

My gaze flicked to Spock who was looking at me as if I had betrayed him. "I don't know what he's talking about," I hissed angrily.

Neither responded.

"The only theory I have is to rediculous to even say out loud." I gave him my most pleading look.

"Come now, Captain." Khan turned back towards us, "It is not that ridiculous."

"I think it was the blood."

Khan's smile broadened.

"The blood? How?" Spock stepped closer hands at his side. His gaze flicked several times between Khan and I.

Suddenly the entire ship rocked. I stumbled and Spock quickly grabbed my arm, preventing me from completely crashing to the ground. 

"Captain to the bridge. What just hit my ship?" I asked angrilily. Why hadn't I been alerted that another ship was in the vicinity?

"I don't know Captain. No ships are nearby and scanners aren't picking up any damage-" Sulu's voice was cut off. Spock and I started off towards the bridge.

"Captain!" I turned back but Spock kept going. One of the guards who was managing the brig consoles was pushing buttons in a panic. My eyes flew to Khan.

His door was slowly but surely opening. He stood in front of it a smile on his face. I launched foward. The door was almost open. It was going to be a close call. 

Khan started moving fast. I leaped.

I hit him with full speed and we both flew inside.The door slammed shut behind us. He was the first to recover from the fall and ran at the door. He kicked it, hard, but it was obvious that it wasn't going to open. He turned to me angriliy. I stood slowly.

He swung a punch that connected hard with my face. I fell back down. I grabbed my face in pain.

One of the guards ran towards the bridge to alert them of our current prediciment. 

"Coms, weapons, and transporters are down, Captain." I wad glad that the guards still decided that I was worth calling Captain after my idiotic mistake.

"If you don't open the doors, she dies." How was I not surprised that this was Khan's response to the situation.

Spock walked back in with the guard in tow. That was very quick. They must have ran here. "We let you out, we all die." He looked at me. "I'm sorry Captain. It should've been me in there.

Khan grabbed me by my wrist and lifted me to my feet. He tightened his hold on my wrist. I gasped as I realized what he was planning on doing. The same thing he had done to Admiral Marcus's head. 

I closed my eyes and braced for the pain. I can't let them see how much this hurts.  _Crack!_  I bit my tongue and fought to keep my knees from buckling before losing all hope of standing. I looked at Spock. His face was contorted in anger and pain.

I did my best to cheer him up and gave him a wink. 

"Let me out, or it  _will_  get worse, all the way up until the point she dies." 

_I can't kill her though._

I looked up in shock at Khan. Did I just read his mind?

Spock was holding firm.

Khan placed a hand on my shoulder then pushed at super speed into the wall. I had not been prepared at all, but somehow I manged to keep from crying out. I was sure all kinds of bones were broken though. No major arteries or organs had been punctured though. Nor had I hit my head, Why was he trying to keep me from dying?

"Spock, he needs me alive for some reason! He can't kill me!" Khans head snapped back towards me. "This is a two way connection, you ass!"

He smirked and kneed my already hurt stomache. "I can torture her non-stop though!"

"Spock don't mind me. I'm fine! Go, do the stuff I should be doing!" Khan twisted my arm back and broke it in a very ugly fashion. "Thats an order," I somehow managed to gasp out. 

Spock  backed away slowly, anger written all over his face. Khan let me drop to the ground. I didn't move, it hurt to much. "I guess its just us now, huh."

\---

Khan was sitting in his usual position. His back straighter than an arrow, Legs spread two feet apart with his hands on his knees. He stared straight ahead, rarely blinking if ever. If I concentrated, I could tune into his thoughts, but it gave me a headache. That man thinks _too_  much.

I began to think of it as his "thinking position." I grimanced realizing how uncreative that name sounded but still, it stuck in my head.

"Not that I'm complaining, but aren't you supposed to be torturing me so that my crew will feel a dire need to rescue me, no matter what the cost so that I won't be in pain anymore" I was getting bored. There was only so much I could do, not being able to move.

"Damaging you further runs the risk of puncturing a vital organ."

"And you care why?"

"The blood." I looked up quickly and winced in pain. His short stoic answers almost never cleared up any confusion.

"Explain, please!" This whole mess made my head hurt. Well, hurt _more._

He looked at me and sighed in annoyance. "If you die, I die." I gasped in complete shock.

"But- b-but if that were true, wouldn't you be injuring yourself by hurting me?"

"I'm not that weak." He stood up and touched his hand to the glass. "The amount of strength it takes to injure you is half the strength to injure me. Besides, I have my superior healing ability."

I watched him in amazement. Could he really be so tough that all that strength didn't affect him at all. "I still don't understand how my bones could break, but you stay as healthy as ever. Shouldn't that be tied together as well?"

"I don't have an answer to everything." I'm guessing thats as humble as he gets.

I sighed, "How did you cripple the ship?"

"It wasn't me." I found myself wanting to slap the stupid smirk off if his face.

I knew he wasn't lying though. He may go out of his way from telling the whole truth but he doesn't lie.

"Did you hire someone while you were on the planet?"

He shook his head. "It was nobody I know. Though if they did it to help me, they aren't doing a very good job." I raised my eyebrows. "They should've just transported me out instead of just opening the doors."

"Unless they knew you were here for revenge and were just trying to create a distraction." He turned to me with a look of surprise on his face.

"I'm surprised that you could reach that conclusion."

I shrugged, ignoring the pain it caused, "I'm not as stupid as people seem to think."

"Apparently not." I swelled with pride inside. "Unless it's just the blood." Well, that didn't last very long.

  ----------

Spock came by once every couple of hours to give me an update. McCoy came more often though. He did what he could from the other side of the glass, which wasn't much. Half the time there though he spent shooting Khan his nastiest looks. 

His sixth visit was different. He had brought a needle. He opened the little hole and held it out to Khan.

Khan looked up at him, clearly amused. "If you expect me to heal-"

"I do expect that! Take it and do it. You can't have her moving and injuring herself further, can you? Even you do not know the full extent of her injuries." McCoy's voice was harsh and angrier than ever before. It scared me. "I'm giving you this one opportunity to take this to you. After this, I'm not coming back. I'm not going to watch her die."

I winced. Ulltimatums were definitly not my thing. I had serious reason to doubt Khan giving a thought to my well being. 

My eyes flickered to his face. His expression had gone from amusement to his poker face.  _He's considering it!_

He stood slowly and walked over to Bones. He sized him up. McCoy didn't even flinch. I grinned with pride as McCoy handed over the needle to Khan. Khan stuck it into a vein and drew the blood. He then walked over and poked it into a vein on the side of my neck. I winced when it peirced my skin but I could feel the effects almost immediately.

I locked eyes with Khan as he drew the needle out. His face only a few inches away. My heart should not have been beating that fast.

He pulled away and just like that the feeling was gone. Yet, It wasn't It was nagging in the back of my head but I pushed away. Khan went back to his thinking position and I looked up at McCoy.

"I'll be back in an hour or so to check on you." I grinned and nodded in reply.

When Bones was out of sight I tensed my muscles then relaxed them. Repeatedly, testing them. No pain.  _Good thinking, Bones!_

"You're strong." My head turned towards Khan again. 

"Excuse me?" Was that a compliment I just heard?

"You had been sustaining multiple serious injuries, and you didn't complain once. You hardly let on you were in pain at all."

I shook my head and looked at the floor in front of me. "If I was strong, the pain wouldn't have bothered me. If i was strong, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You're wrong." His voice was so soft I'm still pretty sure, to this day, that I imagined it.

 ---------

Fifthteen minutes later I was walking around. I stretched and did my usual morning exercises. Most of the time Khan ignored me, but sometimes I could feel his gaze on back.

"Captain, I see McCoy was successful." Spocks voice sounded relieved. Good, I was happy to see my efforts were wearing off on him.

"Good to see you Spock. How's my ship?"

"Scotty still can't find the problem. He is working on a device, that runs on different waves from all the other technology on the ship to see if he can get word back to Starfleet Command."

I nodded, "Good, tell him that his priority after that is transporters. I am beyond bored." An idea struck me. "Are SP's still working?" SP stood for Sound Perpetrator. They played music. If I could just listen to music, I might not go crazy.

"Good idea, Captain! I'll have Scotty get to work on it right away!" Spock turned on his heels in the direction of engineering.

I turned to Khan in confusion. "Get to work on what?" Khan had the strangest expression on his face.Then he  _laughed_. Thats right Khan Noonien Singh laughed. I watched in shock not sure what was going on. 

Luckily he stopped soon. He isn't the type to laugh. Let alone have a long laugh. He smiled at me and said, "He thought that you were suggesting for Scotty to use the sound waves SP's use in order to communicate with Starfleet."

My face flushed as the realization hit me. I wasn't going to get music. Then another thought hit. I grinned at Khan. "I'm so full of ideas aren't I? I'll be in textbooks for sure for this one!"

He smiled at me in amusement. It made me feel greater than when the crew laughed at my jokes. If I was able to make some one like Khan laugh and smile, I could feel acomplished. I sighed as I thought about how sad my dreams are.

Suddenely the circles appeared around me, I looked up at Khan in surprise. He just simply looked on. 

Khan's face diasappeared and Scotty's blurred into view. I blinked in surprise. "What happened to getting communication back up?"

"I did!" Scotty beamed at me. "You said transporters were my next priorty. You're idea was a miracle! It was a solution for both!"

I grinned. "Aren't I full of ideas?" Scotty ignored me and walked back to engineering. I looked around feeling a little pang of sadness. Khan liked that joke. What kind of world did Khan have a better sense of humor than the good guys?

I walked to the bridge. Thoughts entering and leaving. Khan. He had physically hurt me in so many ways. He laughed at one joke, and now I missed him.

"Welcome back, Captain!" The bridge was full of clatter the second I walked in. Uhora smiled the brightest though. She walked over, grinning. 

"So glad that you're back, Captain." She gave me a light hug. "Maybe Spock won't be so moody now." I snorted.

"What is that even like?"

"Horror!" I laughed as I walked to the chair. It was nice to be back.


	3. Being Honest

I sat in my lounge chair in my quarters, heels clicking together.  _Vengeance_. What for? Being sent back into cryrosleep? Boredom was no reason to be so angry and rage war.

I stood up so quickly my chair fell down.  _Is that it?_  My eyes widened. It had to be. I took off running towards the brig.

"Revenge! Why?" Khan looked up from his thinking position. "The word and its many synonyms has crossed your mind so many times and so loudly that  _I_ _'ve_  heard it."

"You and your first officer,  _murdered_  my family where they lay sleeping!" Khans eyes flashed and he stood up angriliy. Gone was the man who had laughed at my jokes, but I smiled happily.

"Then you can relax! No need for vengeance! They aren't dead!" 

 “Captain, do you really expect me to believe these lies?” He was looking at me with such a sense of disgust, it hurt.

“Why would I lie?”

“To ease your conscience.” His face switched to his poker face.

I resisted the urge to stamp my foot. “Oh, Khan! You’re so  _brilliant!_  I don’t know how I could’ve  _ever_  thought that I could outsmart you. I just thought that I could _ease my conscience_  by telling you a lie that gives you hope about your family! That would make  _all_ my pent up guilt go away!”

A security officer behind me coughed to cover up a laugh. This time it didn’t make me feel pride. I was too angry to feel anything else.

Khan and I faced off, neither of us backing down. I huffed before turning on my heel and heading to the medbay.

____

Bones roared with laughter. I crossed my arms and stared at the roof. I was still steamed and Bones was not fulfilling his “giving advice” job.

“Bones.” He just kept right on.

“Bones!” He chuckled a few more time before wiping a fake tear away.

“Sorry, Joan.” He smiled at me. Bones didn’t smile too often. Mostly he was too busy being grumpy to smile. It made me happy.

“So why aren’t you on the bridge working? At this time of day you’re always there.” And just like that all the happiness that I had been feeling floated away.

“Spock thinks that until we know exactly what is going on with this- this connection, that he should take the con.” I looked down.

“I hate that guy.” I chuckled. “I mean it. Obviously Khan had no serious influence over you. Otherwise he would’ve been able to escape when the doors opened.”

“I’m not sure that’s the reason. Spock is trying to keep me out of the loop in case there is a need for secrecy that we can’t have Khan finding out about.” Bones nodded considering.

“When was the last time you’ve eaten?”

“The day before yesterday, before I was thrown into a cell with Khan.” McCoy’s head snapped towards me.

“Excuse me?” His doctor side was coming back out.

“It wasn’t like I was up to eating when injured and then when I got out I wasn’t feeling up to it.”

“You weren’t feeling up to it?” Bones shook his head in disbelief. “Come on.”

We walked to the mess hall, me joking the entire way, and Bones disapproving of the jokes the entire way.  

The mess hall was empty. It was eerie. “Where is everyone?”  

“Bed, Joan. It’s three in the morning.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Even then, people are still awake and working.”

“You’re the Captain. You choose your own hours unless there is an emergency. Most people, this late at night, just want to go to bed after working the nightshift.”

“You are the chief medical officer, you can choose your own hours.”

“Not to the same length that you can.”

I grabbed the unhealthiest things I saw. A fried garbler burger, some canary fries, and some apple pie. McCoy voiced disapproval some more over my choices. “You shouldn’t eat things like that. You’re the captain. You need to be in optimal health.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I haven’t eaten in two days. Let me be.”

McCoy sat working on his PADD. Halfway through my pie I frowned. “How come your always working. And if you complain about how captain don’t understand how rough everyone else has got it I’ll punch you.”

“I’m not working.” I drummed my fingers on the table waiting for a better answer. “I’m writing to my ex-wife.”

My jaw dropped. “What? Why?”

“We’ve been writing to each other since we finished our first mission.” He smiled dreamily.

“Earth to McCoy! She’s your ex for a reason!” He rolled his eyes.

“Maybe you and your ways wouldn’t understand how a relationship works. They are hard. They take effort to make work. The reason she left me was because I wasn’t doing anything with my life.” He stared at me sternly. “Besides, we aren’t dating. We’re just writing. She’s engaged.”

“That’s even worse!” I slapped my palm against my forehead. “You should leave ex’s in the past. It will just hurt that much more when the day comes.”

“It’s not like anyone else is showing any interest in me.” He looked me straight in the eye. I sucked my breath in. Was he implying what I think I think he was?

“Captain.” I blinked and pulled my com out. It was from the guard station at the brig

“Yeah?” My eyes stayed locked with Bone’s.

“Khan has requested a meeting.”

"At three in the morning?"

"Captain, I don't think that he  _ever_  sleeps."

“I’ll be there in a moment. Kirk out.” I looked away from Bones as I stood up. I wasn’t sure how to deal with this right now. “Can we talk later?” He nodded.

\---

I stared at Khan with my arms crossed waiting for him to speak.

He raised an eyebrow. “Your emotions were all over the place and were quite distracting. I checked on what was happening and decided you needed help.” I gasped angrily and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“You- you jackass! That was private moment!” I turned on my heels to leave.

“Captain, I also wanted to ask you about my family.” I sighed and turned back towards him.

“Ask away.”

“Where are they?”

I sighed feeling a little guilty. “Scattered. All in secret locations that not even I know about.”

He nodded. “But they are safe?” I nodded. I had to admire the guy’s love and commitment to his family.

“How is it that you ended up with seventy-two brothers and sisters?”

“Your crew is your family, and yet you aren’t blood-related. My family and I attended a special boarding school that seemed to have an enriching program. Instead, we found out, it was a lab. They tested us in their medical experiments that made us super human. This was in the year 2021.”

I nodded grimly. Guessing what came after wasn’t too hard. “In 2023 we rose against the scientists and made our way out of that secret facility. We decided that no one weaker than us would ever make us their slaves again. Eventually the space program evolved and we stole a ship. The times before and after that aren’t important.”

“What about the scientists?”

“We killed them. We killed them  _all_.”

I turned away to hide the look of terror from my face.

Suddenly the ship rocked again. I flew into the glass. I looked to see Khan gone. Transported out. The ship was hit again and the red emergency lights started flashing. I ran towards the bridge.

A bright light washed flooded the halls and I was blinded.

When my eyes opened again I was lying on the bridge. Not just any bridge, the bridge of the USS Vengeance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Rant:
> 
> Yay! Fourth chapter done!
> 
> Wait! What?
> 
> What are they doing back on the USS Vengeance? I thought that ship was destroyed? Weell, I guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out. . .  
> (Yes, I know. I am a dork)


	4. Memories to Myself

My head was woozy. Memories fuzzy and then they disappeared altogether. What had I been thinking about?

I looked up at Khan in the captain’s chair. He looked around wildly. What for? 

The transporter rings appeared around Carol, Scotty, and I. Then the ones around me disappeared. I looked up angrily at Khan. Instead he was he was staring at the consoles, as if he wasn’t sure what to do. What is going on with him?

“Khan! You said that you’d send the Captain back!” Khan looked up briefly and was about to say something until an explosion occurred.

Khan leapt over the consoles and wrapped his arms around me, protecting me from being injured. Why is he protecting me? I could hear Spock yelling in the background, right up until the point the screen broke.

We launched forward when another explosion occurred. I hit my head and everything went black.

\---

“You’re strong.”

“Excuse me?”

You had been sustaining multiple serious injuries, and you didn’t complain once. You hardly let on you were in pain at all.”

My eyes flashed open. I obviously hit my head hard if I was dreaming about Khan complimenting me.

 

I tried standing up before realizing I had injured my leg. I hissed and limped to the consoles. Everything was broken. I looked around. The screen was broken.I could see the skyline of a very familiar city. We had crashed into San Francisco. From the state of my surrounding I was surprised I had survived.

I frowned, if everything was broken and dead, how was I supposed to get out of here. And where was Khan? I looked around for any sign of power.

A light was blinking in the communication area. I sighed with relief. If there was an area I wanted to have power that was it. I Limped my way to the other side of the bridge and surveyed the damage just as the light went off. Figures.

I collasped into the chair. People were bound to comb the ship for evidence and of the like. I would be rescued in a matter of days.

A matter of days. That didn't sound very fun. Kind of boring. 

"Good. Tell him his next priorty after that is transporters. I am beyond bored"

My hands flew to my head to block a headache that was building up inside.

Suddenly a com went off. I looked up at the console in surprise. "If any one is alive on the USS Vengeance please respond." I pressed the button eagerly.

"This is Captain Joan Kirk. I have somehow injured my leg, and might need a medic."

"Help is on the way, Captain."

I sunk into the chair tiredly. I smiled. Good for me. 

\-----

"Captain! I am glad to see that you are alive!"

"Thanks Spock. Uh, I haven't had a chance to ask anyone, so what happened that made the ship blow up?' McCoy came over and began checking my leg wrappings. I averted my eyes. For some reason I hadn't been able to look him straight in the eyes.

"We removed Khan's family from the torpedos, had them activated so that they'd destroy the ship. I wasn't counting on Khan not transporting you back."

"Yeah, that was weird." I looked at the ceiling. "I thought he was- I don't know, but he protected me through the explosion and I'm assuming the crash." I looked at Spock for an explanation.

"Perhaps in the short time he has known you he has developed feelings for you." I laughed automatically. There was a loud crash from a few feet away. Bones lay sprawled on the ground, apparently he had tripped. 

I snorted. McCoy grumbled as he got up about "useless people being unable to help a guy up." I smiled at him brightly and he looked away. 

"He doc, when can I get out of here?"

"Now.' I blinked in surprise. "All that was wrong was your leg. I don't want you leaving the base though. Just walk around for a while then come back for a check up. If everything goes well, you can go home."

I grinned as I maneuvered myself off the bed. The hover crutches floated over. i placed each of my hands on the thin hovering boards and hopped to the door. "See ya in a bit Bones!" 

"Bye, and Joan, don't exert yourself too much."

"Alrighty!" Spock followed me out the door. "What happened to Khan?"

"He has disappeared. Starfleet has everyone available looking." I nodded. Spock took off in the opposite direction I wanted to go in high speed. Obviously he didn't want me along.

I sighed and set off alone. I decided I was going to practice on stairs. My apartment's elevator had broken and the only way to get up to it for now was by stairs. I figured that I better practice now to avoid awkwardness now in fron of the cute desk clerk.

I went down a mysterious set of stairs I had often wondered about but never had time to explore. At first it was hard but it got better. Soon I was in a rythme alone with my thoughts.

All I could think about though was what Spock had said about Khan. Everything Khan had done before though suggested that he hated humans. Or at least didn't want them to live. He had pounded on her quite hard right before the explosion though. 

Then, when he had said "Well Kirk. It seems apt to return you to your crew. Afterall,no ship should go down without her captain!" he had been quite clear that he wanted her and her crew to die. But right before the transport had been complete he had stooped hers. He had looked so cunfused, like he didn't know where he was.

I stumbled. I looked around the ground confused. No more stairs apparently. A long black hallway stood before her.

A guard lay asleep at his station. I tilted my head, really hoping the fate of human kind was not down that hallway. 

Curiosity took hold and I made my way down the hallway. There were no doors, and the hallway curved, in what appeared to be a spiral because it kept turning, and the further I went, the thinner the hall became. 

The sound of steps came at me. I froze. If it was a guard, I could be in trouble for being back here.

A man in all black rounded the corner and froze when he saw me. His eyes zoomed onto the crutches and smirked at me. He began walking again at a relaxed pace.

I stared at him. Concentrating at the familiarity of his movements. Then it hit me. "Oh my God." I practically wilted. "Great, just great. Thank you universe! On top of everything else I'm on crutches." I shot him a nasty look. "Now there's two."

He blinked in surprise. "Wait, who else is awake?" He took a step towards me. "Where is the rest of my family?"

I leaned on the wall suddenly tired. I gave him the same look on my face that I gave Khan when he first asked me about the torpedos.

He took two steps angrily towards me. "Tell or I'll be forced to resort to less polite means."

I snorted. Khan was better than this guy and he couldn't torture me into his release. Wait, what? Khan never tortured me. He just beat the crap out of me on the Vengeance. I furrowed my brows in concentration trying to reclaim the memory.

Hands gripped my shoulders tightly and shoved me against the wall, sending my crutches speeding in different directions. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" This one has anger issues.

\----

Khan walked through San Fransisco keeping his head down. Obviously his little sister had awoken, and used her time device. It had probably been her that had attacked the Enterprise. The question was finding her and figuring out why she had used her device.

"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Zachariah's face was inches from his.

"What if I don't want to?" Kirk's voice rang out placidly.

Khan froze. The connection was still there. He sighed before realizing the danger Kirk and he were both in. If Zachariah killed her, he'd die too. He gritted his teeth at Kirk's stubbornness. He went down an alleyway and focused back in on them.

\---------

I stared at Khan's brother coolly. "What if I don't want to?"

"Then you die." For a brief second I saw an image. I sat behind a door. Hand on the glass. Spock on the other side. His hand placed on the same spot mine was. I blinked and it disappeared.

I rolled my eyes. This brother of Khan's looked about my age. I sighed "Even if I knew where your family was I wouldn't tell you."

"Then tell me who is awake!" He shook me. I stared him directly in the eyes. I considered. It wasn't like they could find each other with a name. Then again, maybe they could.

I huffed, "Khan." He dropped me and backed away. "Ow! What is up with you two and dropping me?" When had Khan dropped me?

He ran his hand over his hair eyes wide. "Khan is the one that's awake?" He began to pace.

"Is that a problem for you?"

"Well. Kind of." I tilted my head at him. "I was kind of the black sheep. I like humans. For the most part. I just wanna rule you." I snorted.

"But Khan convinced the rest of the family that everyone one who is not one of us needs to die He is ruthless. And he doesn't particularly like me." I blinked in surprise.

"I was under the impression he would do anything for any of you."

"Its a love hate relationship."

I chuckled.

"How is he." He asked, looking at me with big eyes.

"I wouldn't know. He could be hurt for all I know." I looked into the distance. A gut sinking feeling began to settle into my stomach. "The last time I saw him, we were in the middle of an exploding ship that was speeding to Earth."

"Are you saying he could be dead?" His voice was heated.

I shook my head at him. "No, he survived, but he's gone. He left probably the second the ship stilled."

"You care about him." My head snapped up. I laughed nervously.

"Are you kidding me? You have no clue what he's done, to me, and my friends." A pang went through my body as I remembered Pike. As horrible as the things he had done, nobody deserved to die like that.

He sighed. "He does that." He went and grabbed both of my crutches and handed them to me. "Will you show me the way out?"

"I can't. You're on the verge of being evil. Besides I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to be awake." He nodded.

"What's you name?"

"Captain Joan Tiffulus Kirk"

"Tiffulus?"

"From my grandmother."

"Captain?" There was amusement in his voice.

"I'm a great captain, thank you very much."

"I'm gonna go now. Maybe I'll see you around after I conquer the world." I snorted.

"You know the second you're gone, I'm gonna head to the guards station at the end of this hallway and call for help, right?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then" I watched him walk away a smile pulling the corners of my mouth. "I like him."


	5. Fixing the Problem

I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling. Getting off base had been a nightmare. Press every which way. Then again, when so many people call you a hero, how can you be annoyed?

I say thinking about the random memories in my head. It hadn't taken long to figure out that the last one was me dying. When had this happened? When had Khan tortured me? When had he complimented me?

My cheeks flushed at that last one.

I raised my leg to test it. According to McCoy it should be working normally by tomorrow. I hissed in pain. It felt better than it did earlier, but it hurt quite a bit.

I closed my eyes ready to drift. I felt so tired yet sleep was so far away. It was going to be a long night. I turned my crutches back on and began walking around my apartment.

My cat , Geronimo, lay sleeping on the rug, spread out like the fat lazy cat he was. I walked over to him, and lowered myself down. When ever I felt stressed, petting Geronimo made me feel better. I layed right next to him. Placing myself so that he lay in the crook of my stomache. I ran my hand from his head to the bottom of his stomache. It was easy to fall asleep on the hard wood floors, with only a rug, when I listened to the sound of Geronimo's purring.

I was half asleep when I heard a thump in the bedroom. I slowly removed Geronimo from my head (He had decided he like that position better) and stood up quietly. I moved slowly to my desk, and grabbed my faser from the drawer.

I had the comfort that it wasn't Khan at least. He doesn't make that much noise on his worst day. The noise had moved from my bedroom to the kitchen. I heard my fridge open. I raised my eyebrows at the audacity of the criminal. 

When I got to the doorway I nearly dropped my faser in surprise. "Its you!"

The perpetrator turned around and dropped the cartoon of milk. It was Khan's little brother. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment."

He had been cut along his cheekbone, along his calve and it appeared his shoulder was dislocated. "And what the hell happened." 

I kept my faser on him, my eyes scanning him in wonder. Was he coming here for help?

"I need help."

I shook my head at him,"I can't. I'm a Starfleet captain. You are a fugitive."

"But I'm one of the good guys!"

"Didn't you say that you want to rule the human race?"

"Back in my time period that was a common occurrence!" 

I sighed, "Who beat the crap out of you? I thought you guys were to be tougher than nails."

"Not when going up against Khan." I opened my mouth then closed.

"Khan attacked you?"

"No. . .Well kind of."

"Well which is it?"f

"Put the faser down and I'll explain." 

"Let me alert the authorities."

"Fine."

I walked to my room where my com was lying on the end table. "Spock?"

"Captain, I'm a little busy."

Uhora's voice sounded over. "Are you coming to the shower or not?" I chuckled. 

"As bad as I feel about this buddy, I've got an issue here." I looked down the hallway, I could here Khan's brother appeared to be making eggs and bacon.

"I've got Khan's little brother in my apartment, I'd like you, and I guess Uhora over here soon. And don't let HQ know. I think that hes a good one.'

"Captain, I highly recommend you keep you faser with you at all times, and do not engage until I get there."

"Sure thing."

"Captain."

"I swear Spock, I'll let him eat his breakfast in peace, and I'll watch him with my faser locked on the whole time I'm waiting for you." I turned the com off and pranced into the kitchen.

"So what's your name, kid?"

"I'm three hundred years older than you."

"Yeah, but you look younger."

"My name is Zachariah."

"Nice to meet you Zach, I'm Joan." He looked at me over his plate, brows furrowed.

"Its Zachariah."

"Sure thing Zach. Tell me what happened." I placed his frying pan into the sink, and filled it with water to soak.

"Don't you want to wait for your friends to get here?" I turned to look at him in surprise.

"Do you have super hearing as well as super healing?"

"Yes."

"Well, anyway. I don't because I want to hear it twice. It'll suck for you, but its thorough for me!" I sat at the table across from him and folded my hands neatly.

"After breaking out of the base-"

"Starfleet?"

"Starfleet, I made my way to the outskirts of town. But the sight of the crash drew me. I've never seen a ship so big." His eyes turned dreamy. "Anyway, I saw Astrid, and I began to follow her."

"Astrid?"

"Khan's biggest suck up and my older sister. She was in love with him. I followed her into a warehouse, where Khan was sitting. It surprised her more than it surprised me." He shook his head.

"Thats when he killed her." I stared at him in shock. "Hes gone mad. Killing his own kind. Especially some one that was so loyal to him. I was overcome by grief and tried to fight Khan. What you see is the outcome."

"I can't believe he would do that."

"Why not aren't you the one who said he has done terrible things."

"He made it quite clear that his family was the only thing that matters to him. I'd hate to say this, but maybe he had a reason?" I winced at my response, obviously Zach knew Khan better than I did.

He dropped his fork in shock. "You sound like Astrid." I narrowed my eyes.

A knock sounded on my door. "Come on in." 

Spock walked in silently. "Where's Uhora?"

He shot me a look that, coming from Spock, could only be described as nasty. I coughed to hide a chuckle. I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. "Go on, tell him what you told me."

"After i had made my escape from-"

I let out and audible gasp. My hands flew to my head. A terrible headache gripped me. It was the worst headache in the history of time. I had never felt anything like it.

Wait, yes I have.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and fell slowly into darkness.

\--------

"You jerk! It hurts like hell when you do that!" I threw my shoe at Khan. Khan blinked in surprise when it hit him in the face. Good. If I can't hurt him, I'll surprise him.

"You have your memories?"

I froze, realizing what I had just said. Had he done this to me before? "No, well kind of. Here and there."

He nodded. "Not surprising considering our predicament."

"Right, we have a blood bond thing, right?" I rubbed my head trying to recall the missing information.

He simply looked on. I sighed, "What do you want Khan? I was in the middle of an interogation of sorts."

"With who?"

"None of your Goddamn business."

"Kirk."

"Khan."

We stood at a stalemate. "You are a criminal that I don't have to answer to. You should be answering my questions."

"You haven't asked any."

"Yes, I have. I asked what you wanted."

"I wanted to make sure you hadn't been kidnapped by my brother."

"Why would he kidnap me?

"Because he is foolish and makes rash decisions."

I raised my eyebrows. "I could say the same about you." He settled down into his thinking position and did not respond. "Where are you?"

"Why? So you could send Starfleet to collect me, have me stand trial, then be put to death?"

"Well, yeah I guess."

"Captain, I think you know me better than that."

"No, I don't. You are the one who always manages to surrender."

"As part of a plan."

"A plan of a coward."

I didn't even see him move. One second he was sitting twenty feet away, the next his face was a few inches from mine. "I am no coward." I stared him straight in the eye. I knew I was wrong to say that, but I couldn't take it back no without showing weakness.

"Spock will have called for a medic, I have to wake up."

"Then leave."

"How?'

He just looked at me.

\----------

I sat up slowly, rolling my neck. Khan was on his com talking a mile a minute. Zach stood by the door, ready to run. "I'm fine, tell them they aren't needed."

"Captain, they should check you out."

"No need, happened all the time when I was younger. Doctors said it was from lack of sleep after a trauma."

"Trauma?"

"Pike died, taken hostage, beat up, ship crash. Lots of trauma." Spock nodded respectfully.

"Perhaps you should take a few days off."

"Just one. To catch up on sleep." I gave him a toothy smile. Then I looked at Zach. "You, go with him. Starfleet will have no reason to harm you.'

He nodded. Spock tapped his shoulder then made his way out of my apartment, Zach followed.

As soon as the door shut I collapsed back onto the ground in exhaustion. I only moved to pat Geronimo's head when he cuddled up in my hair.

\---

I sat in my chair glaring at the wall. I knew that taking a day off was the best way not to have a report filed against me, but I wanted to do something. 

I jumped up when somebody knocked on my door. I glanced down in surprise, remembering that I was supposed to be using my crutches. I had gone most of the night without using them, though. And it had been twenty-four hours.

I walked slowly to the door, testing my leg with a smile on my face. The smile dissapeared once I opened the door.

Khan stood in his very Khan-like pose. Legs spread apart and hands behind his oh-so-straight-back. I glared at him and attempted to slam the door in his face. He caught it easily and pushed it all the way open, before walking in.

I resisted the very child like urge to stomp my foot. I took a deep breath and closed the door, barely managing not to slam it like an angsty teenager.

"You can't just come to my apartment. You-"

"Are a criminal. You say that a lot."

I could feel my anger boiling up inside. "Okay, whatever. How do we get time back to normal?"

"We need to find out who is keeping ASTRID 1."

I blinked in surprise. "I thought you killed her." 

He looked at my couch and slowly sat down, looking at it like it might be full of diseases. "No, Zachariah did." He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. As if asking when I had been talking to him.

"Okay, say I believe that. Who would be keeping a dead body?" I plopped into my lovely and fluffy relaxation chair. "And why would we need it?"

"ASTRID 1 is a machine not a body. Astrid made it before we were exiled as war criminals. She made it so we could change time and not be put to death like the original plan."

"So it has been used before?"

"No."

"But you said you were originally going to be put to death."

He smiled a very evil smile that made me quite uncomfortable. "Anyway, I need to alert Starfleet of these occurrences." He just looked at me. "I do need to know why you would care about the time change though."

"Time changing is unnatural."

"So are you."

"It is also very dangerous and most likely will destroy the universe."

I struggled to keep a straight face as I replied, "I'm still not seeing a difference between you and the device."

He smiled. He actually smiled at my joke. My heart gave a flutter. I stood up swiftly, "Don't be here when I get back, because I might show up with a few officers."

"Don't trust Zachariah. He is dangerous, and crazy. He killed his own kind." HIs face turned hard and I took a step back.

"That is exactly what he said about you." I turned and quickly left.


End file.
